Strawberry Milkshakes
by aaliyahcrosses
Summary: As Ran watches Conan and Ai, she realizes, this is what Shinichi and her could have been. (ft: Shinichi and Conan as different people, implied death, ShinRan and CoAi)


Ran was fifteen when she first realized she was in love. And so it is easy for her to see that ten-year old Ai is in love with her sort-of-younger-brother, Conan.

"You could tell him, you know," she says to the young girl as she hands her the milkshake she had ordered, and sits beside her. They both look at the boy outside the street, talking to a girl who is no doubt confessing her 'undying love' to him.

Ran smiles when all Ai replies is, "I know." She really shouldn't have expected anything else from her.

She drinks from her own glass, a 'cupcake' frappuccino–vanilla bean crème blended with hazelnut syrup, and of course, topped with whipped cream–because she is just starting her last year in college and it seems the late night would already be starting quickly. So of course, caffeine is very much welcome in her system. Beside her are stacks of books and papers for her research. Earlier, she saw Ai looked at them with a certain glint on her eyes.

"Then why don't you?" she asks the girl again.

"He would just reject me," she replies bitterly.

Outside, they see Conan doing exactly that: rejecting the girl confessing to him. It seems he doesn't do it smoothly, because the girl actually slaps him and cries, while calling him an idiot. Ran wants badly to go out and comfort–well, both the girl and Conan, but when she turns to look at Ai she stops. Ai looks sad, but there is this twinge on her face as if she's happy.

 _Ah_.

"Why do you think that is?" she questions Ai again.

She knows the feeling. Another person less who has affection for the person they like. How many times had she been jealous of Shinichi's fangirls anyway? No doubt Ai-chan was the same with Conan-kun.

"Because he likes another person. He always has. _That_ , and I don't deserve him." She replies, alluding to the fact that she did not come from a good family, and her past wasn't good.

They both continue watching Conan, who tries desperately hard on trying to calm the poor girl down.

It is almost three years since Shinichi died. And Ran has only one regret: that she didn't get to tell him how she felt. Now, she's merely in love with a ghost. She has a steady boyfriend and she loves him, but Shinichi would always have this place in her heart.

The young girl confessing to Conan runs away, leaving the poor boy gaping for a second before sighing and entering the café, sitting at the chair nearest the door, beside Ai.

A small trio-Conan, Ai and her-on the tall, long table facing outside the café. Ran is quite thankful she decided to wear pants, not skirt.

He sighs again as he sits, greeting Ran, and glancing quickly at the table. He then glares at Ai. "You didn't order for me?"

"Why should I?" the strawberry blonde quips back. "You think you deserve something after making a girl cry like that? Kudo Conan, child detective, death magnet, _heart breaker._ "

"What should I do?!" He demands in bewilderment. "Accept her feelings and have her be my girlfriend? And it's not even that! She's not the one I like and you know that!" Conan groans when Ai does not even bother to reply. She eyes him critically, gives a quick glance at Ran, and goes back to her drink. When she is halfway through it, she slides it over to Conan.

"There. All yours."

He blinks, drinks from the straw and says, "but you don't like strawberry."

Ran thinks if she was at their age she would be screaming about indirect kisses and such, but she thinks, Ai-chan and Conan-kun were never like normal children from the beginning, anyway. Conan-kun had _Shinichi_ for a brother, and Ai-chan has had a rough early childhood.

Ran blinks when she realizes the implication of what Conan said. Conan was the one who liked fruit milkshakes. She remembers that Ai actually liked tea instead.

She turns to the girl in question, who hides her face from Conan by facing Ran's way. She is blushing.

Ran smiles at the boy. "Ai-chan just had a craving today, Conan-kun, that's all."

The poor girl mouths a small ' _thank you_ ' to Ran and smiles.

Ran gets the idea that maybe Ai-chan was actually telling Conan-kun she likes him, but he never quite gets it.

Ran turns back to watching Conan, who was grinning rather gently at the glass on his hands. They start talking: after all, it has been some time since she last came home. The university was fun, but it is sad to leave. They caught up here and there, and when it was time to go home, she sees the children off. She actually sees Conan trying to reach Ai's hand, pauses, thinks better about it and puts his hand in his pocket.

Ran giggles. And maybe Conan-kun actually likes Ai-chan too.

As she watches them, she instead sees Shinichi and a younger her. A younger Ran. Her smile vanishes. She blinks, and they are gone, they are back to being Conan and Ai. She exhales and calms herself for a few seconds, and smiles again. She hopes Conan finds a better ending to his story than Shinichi did–than his brother did. And she hopes Conan and Ai would have a happier story than Shinichi and Ran did.

* * *

Written: July 05, 2017  
Updated: July 07, 2017

Note: If there are errors on the writing, please comment on it and I shall correct it. Thanks.


End file.
